Telecom Italia Uses More VOIP

ROME -- ­­As of today, 100% of Telecom Italia's telephone calls made between Italy's capital city, Rome, and its industrial capital, Milan, as well as 50% of all Telecom Italia's International European telephone calls, travel over the Internet Protocol (IP) network. This represents over 3 billion minutes of telephone calls a year running over a Voice over IP (VoIP) solution based on technology from Cisco Systems and implemented by Italtel.Operating expenses savings, improved return on assets and the ability to quickly roll-out new services were the main reasons that Telecom Italia decided to merge its voice and data networks onto an IP backbone. The IP network uses MPLS "Class of Service" features (ie. the ability to prioritize network traffic) to give different priorities to voice and data so that the highest quality of service can be ensured. The project will allow Telecom Italia to save two thirds of its transit operating expenses over the forthcoming years."We chose VoIP because we could save two thirds of our transit operating expenses and give our customers and shareholders a better service. By the end of 2003, we estimate that 80% of Telecom Italia's transit voice traffic will travel over the Cisco Systems and Italtel Multiservice solution. We chose Cisco Systems and Italtel because they had the most reliable solution. Cisco Systems has more experience in IP technology and VoIP than any other infrastructure company and the partnership with Italtel provides additional expertise in the switching carrier environment. Cisco Systems and Italtel also used our existing infrastructure, which meant we didn't have to reinvent the wheel and could save money on implementation," said Stefano Pileri, head of Telecom Italia¹s domestic network.Cisco Systems Inc.Italtel SpATelecom Italia SpA